HOSPITAL SHIP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 February 1942, Page 3

HOSPITAL SHIP

BOMBED BY JAPANESE AT DARWIN. VESSEL CLEARLY MARKED. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) CANBERRA, February 22. The Prime Minister, Mr Curtin announced that a hospital ship at Darwin was bombed and damaged in the raids on February 19. An official report stated that the ship was clearly marked with the Red Cross. The Minister of the Interior, Senator Collings, announced today that the evacuation of Darwin will be completed by February 27. Only the men required for the defence or Darwin were remaining in the town. The Administrator of the Northern Territory, Mr C. L. A. Abbott, is remaining at his post to assist the military authorities. Four miles of railway which were damaged in the raids on Darwin were repaired in eight hours. It is officially reported that in the course of the raids on Darwin on February 19 enemy aircraft attacked Bathurst Island, off Darwin. The attack was not heavy. The Berlin radio quoted a Tokio newspaper as stating: "The raids on Darwin were made necessary because of the Australian attitude toward Japan, which had become more and more hostile in spite of General To jo’s warnings. Australia’s attitude is difficult to explain, because she belongs to the East Asia sphere, where her surplus of wheat and wool would easily find consumers.” The newspaper also said that the Darwin aerodromes were used for American bombers en route to the Philippines, East Indies and Malaya. INVADERS OPPOSED UNDERGROUND ACTIVITY IN PHILIPPINES. CONTEMPT FOR JAPANESE. WASHINGTON, February 21. Reports from General MacArthur indicate that the civilian resistance of the Filipinos against the Japanese in the occupied areas is increasingly effective. A secret society which has been formed called "Fighters for Freedom” is now organising underground activities against the Japanese. The Filipinos openly show their contempt for the Japanese, while many informers have recently mysteriously disappeared. The Japanese authorities have plastered Manila and the suburbs with proclamations stating that 10 Filipinos will be shot for every Japanese killed, but the members of the “Fighters for Freedom” each night alter the posters to read: “Ten Japanese soldiers will be killed for every executed Filipino.” CHINESE ATTACKS SUCCESS IN NORTHERN PROVINCES. CHUNGKING, February 21. The Chinese attacked Chiyuan, in north Honan Province, and blew up a Japanese troop train in south Tangying, killing 400 soldiers and destroying the engine and four coaches. The Chinese also attacked Japanese troop concentrations near the Honan-Shan-tung border and carried out offensive operations in north Kiangs! Province.